Posted By Ryan Casey On October 6, 2010 @ 1:20 pm In Hockey,University of Denver | No Comments

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DU hopes to have better play in front of goalie Sam Brittain. (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)

Goaltending, coach George Gwozdecky acknowledged during yesterday’s media day, is the question mark of this year’s University of Denver hockey team. But the 17th-year DU coach also emphasized the need for improvement in his team’s play away from the puck.

“There were times last year where (former goalie) Marc Cheverie really made us look a lot better than we were,” Gwozdecky said. “I think at times last year, not that it was part of our philosophy or our system, I think we got very lax and careless at times, perhaps saving our energy for the fun part of the game — the offensive part of the game — and not really doing as good a job defensively.

“We can’t afford that this year, based upon, No. 1, our firepower is unproven, and No. 2, we have two unproven young goaltenders who are very talented but have a lot of inexperience.”

DU lost its three leading scorers from last season in Rhett Rakhshani (50 points), Joe Colborne and Tyler Ruegsegger (41 each).

“I think last year, we kind of relied on our talent at times to win games — and it won us a lot of games,” said captain Kyle Ostrow, whose 16 goals last season are tops among returners. “But we may not have that right now.”

Defenseman Chris Nutini said last year’s mindset may have led to DU’s losing its final three games of the season, including another first-round upset in the NCAA tournament.

“Last year, (talent) got us far, but when it came down to it, we didn’t put enough work and effort into in the big games,” Nutini said. “This year, I feel like our team has a lot more heart, a little bit more work ethic.”

“We will have talent (this season), obviously,” added forward Anthony Maiani. “We have talent every year. … But I think hard work is going to be the big thing this year.”

Article printed from The Field House: http://blogs.denverpost.com/colleges